Well, hello everyone. I was saying that this post is written on 23/06/2015 but it will be post the day I’ll leave Switzerland. I feel I was (and I am) lucky for having the opportunity to meet with such an amazing people here, in Switzerland. I don’t realize I am going to leave already. But even if sometimes I have douts about my decision to leave I think the opportunity I am taking is right now or never.

But let’s start since the beginning.

As you know, my first idea was not to come to Switzerland. I landed here by coincidence, through the desire to answer “why not?”. And right now, I am pretty sure it was the best decision I could take.

I come to a beautiful country I never though to live in before. Where the weather is much better comparing with what I though. Where you can feel the nature around everywhere but without the boring life style of a town. Having the possibility to have the craziest and funniest parties you can imagine. But also to feel the calm swimming in the lake and having picnic and barbecue every sunny day. It is the perfect combination, but it would not have been possible if I hadn’t been lucky enough to meet the people I’ve met here.

I was saying that I never felt foreign in Switzerland. Through Zurich streets you can listen Swiss, English, Spanish, Italian, French… And always I met with a group of people it was integrated by different people all around the world. So I had always the feeling that I was another different one. Not the foreigner, just another different but similar at the same time. Being part of the contribution to this incredible mix you can always find here.

Before arriving in Zurich I wrote to Hantao, Vice-president of Talent Management in AIESEC Zurich. In this e-mail I presented myself and I told him that I would like to meet with new people in the city, discover AIESEC Zurich reality and how AIESEC Switzerland works. And of course, if I could help on something, I would be glad to participate.

Since the beginning I was welcomed with open arms by him and all the committee. Was so funny to help them with the recruitment being a spy in the dynamics. And I can’t explain with words how happy they made me every time we spent time together. Every time I received multitude of invitations to plans without asking/expecting anything in return. Just the pleasure to share together and on the top of that, most of the times they replied me at the end with a “thank you”. When I felt the “thank you” was mine for them.

Thanks to them I could live my first national conference in other country. And it was the best way to realize how a small country can have such an amazing mixes inside. It was the end of my third month in Switzerland and after that I started to felt in love with the personality of the country. Expecially with the french part. Who knows if in the future I will move to live there. 🙂

But not only AIESEC. I feel everyone I met here, no matter where or why, was a positive part of my experience.

Before coming to a new country, my deepest worry inside was if I would find people which I feel engage with. In every conversation I had before coming here everyone told me: “Laura, you don’t have to worry about it. You make friends always and everywhere.”

And I knowed that. Usually I find easy to engage with others, but still. I knowed that to find people would be not difficult. But my worry inside was if I could find the right people, the ones whose fix with my personality, with the way to have fun and to understand the life.

And related with this point, I discovered how your way to behave can change when you have to speak in a language which is not yours. Even if you can communicate in other language that isn’t your main language, sometimes it is not the same. It is something I talked with people here and they were agree with me.

You can communicate but sometimes you feel the presure of the barrer that in your deeply brain, you first think, is in another language. The best example is to be able to make jokes. It’s so difficult to make jokes in a language that it’s not your mother language. When you can do it in a spontaneous way (without thinking before what do you want to do), you can be free and completly yourself in this language.

Because of that I have to say, again and as many times as I can, that I am so so so happy and glad for being able to meet with the people I met here. I met with people whose after a 20min conversation had already invited me to a party in her house next night. I met with people whose teached me about how important is to travel. I met people whose I had really deep and philosophical conversations and also with I had laughed so much. I had a long train travels which I feel so short. Without awkward silences. I met lots of people here whose want to live in Australia. And also with people whose lived there so they explained me more about the country. I met with people that explained me how different Asia is depending of the regions. People whose spread me the desire to visit and discover the world. I met with people who made me feel loved and always welcome. Many people whose made my experience full of great moments.